If you’ve been following me for the past few months (thank you by the way, it means a lot), you would know that I was in the United States from August up to a week ago. During my time abroad I lived in a dorm, experienced the American education system, made new friends and had some adventures. What I didn’t do was READ.
Yes. I discovered that living in a dorm is counterproductive to my reading habits. I’m constantly in the company of interesting people and because of that I don’t have the desire to enter a fantasy world. And even if I do want to read, I don’t have time because of assigned reading, papers or exams.
So in this post I’m going to be recounting the books that I read beginning in August up to now, the end of the year.
Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones
I was really looking forward to reading Illusive. The synopsis describes it as X-Men meets Ocean’s Eleven but I found it didn’t really deliver on that front. I did a full review for this book which you can read here.
Rating: ☆☆☆
The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
This year was definitely the year of JLB for me. I read a total of 3 of her novels, and I’m sure if I weren’t in a reading slump I’d have read her November release.
I read The Fixer with Sara and Abby and I was the odd one out who didn’t love it. I liked it the first half of the book where everyone was being introduced and the plot was being set up, but from there I lost interest. I also did a full review of this one which I will link here.
Rating: ☆☆☆
Sass & Sorcery (Rat Queens vol. 1) by Kurtis J. Weibe
At this point I didn’t feel like reading anything else so I decided to give a graphic novel a go. And boy did I appreciate Rat Queens. A group of diverse femme fatales in a fantasy RPG setting was exactly what I needed.
I enjoyed this volume from start to finish and look forward to reading volume two. If you’re interested in more in depth thoughts I will link my full review here.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm
The first non-fiction book that I’ve read… ever, I think. TAOL is also the first book that I’ve ever read from cover to cover for school. This book describes psychologist Erich Fromm’s theory on love and interpersonal relationships. I had to write a book report for this and it ended up being seven pages.
It was extremely interesting but also, very depressing. Knowing theories of love just means you have another way to self-analyse all of your failed relationships, and even the ones that succeeded and question why they did.
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan
This was another very interesting book. CTO features an alternating dual perspective between an autistic young man and a young man with major depressive disorder and major social anxiety, who both still manage to fall in love with one another.
CTO did read very similarly to The Fixer for me though. Once everything was established and the story hit its climax I lost interest. I finished this weeks ago and plan on writing a review, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Rating: ☆☆☆
Saga vol. 4 by Brian K. Vaughn
Oh Saga. What can I say? I’m really sold on this series, but I didn’t like it as much as the other volumes. Maybe it was the minor time skip between volume three and this one but I felt like the plot was a bit inconsistent. I did love the ending though. What an ending! I’m so glad that volume five is already out because I’d love to see what happens next!
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani
I just finished this one and I’m still thinking about it. There were a few things that didn’t click with me, or at least took a while to make sense. I keep reminding myself that it’s middle grade and I haven’t read middle grade in a while, but shouldn’t middle grade be more direct because of its target audience? I plan on writing a full review of this book and I’m hoping that will help me sort through my thoughts.
Rating: ☆☆☆½
by G.J. Alvi 